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Hi NIH Vigilers and 27 UNIHTED Community,
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Vigil “Auntie” News
The Good
911 for Health and Science Rally
The 911 for Health and Science Rally was held Friday evening at Sam Gompers Park in Washington DC (watch video here). The leadoff speaker, Arthur Lavin, described how the group Grandparents for Vaccines documents the horrors of life before vaccines were common. Vaccine researcher Paul Offit ended his remarks by comparing current health scientists fighting misinformation to Galileo during his persecution by the Catholic Church in the 1600s. Galileo was forced to recant his claim that the earth is not fixed at the center of the solar system but instead orbits around the sun, but as he left the church’s inquisition he supposedly mumbled “and yet it moves.” So too, biomedical researchers know that the evidence supports their scientific views regardless of dubious claims to the contrary. NIH Vigil “Auntie” Mollie Manier spoke in her personal capacity about how the anti-science movement in the federal government consists of two different factions—the Make American Healthy Again (MAHA) advocates like HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and the Christian nationalists led by the Director of the Office of Management along with Budget Russell Vought—which do not always agree with each other. She urged listeners to support efforts to impeach both RFK Jr. and Vought. Other speakers described the difficulties faced by biomedical scientists and medical doctors, stressed the importance of global collaborations, and advocated for Medicare for All. The event concluded by encouraging listeners to sign the Declaration for Health and Science.
More good news:
The on-again, off-again hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccine trial in Guinea-Bissau is off again. A Danish researcher involved in the planned trial said, “we were not given the necessary governmental approval.” The study, funded in part by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), was criticized as unethical because a control group of infants would not have received the birth dose of the HBV vaccine.
Four NIH intramural researchers and leaders were elected to the National Academy of Medicine: Drs. Anthony Letai, Francesco DeMayo, Swee Lay Thein, and Daniel S. Reich.
Dr. Michael Osterholm, the director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, received the Infectious Diseases Society of America’s 2026 Anthony Fauci Courage in Leadership Award.
A new cancer mRNA vaccine developed by Moderna and Merck is reported to reduce the risk of death from melanoma by 42%. Although melanoma accounts for only about 1% of all skin cancer diagnoses, it causes the vast majority of skin cancer-related deaths. The new vaccine, known as intismeran autogene, is based on mutations unique to each patient’s tumor.
Nature magazine interviewed six U.S. scientists to learn how they maintained their research despite the loss of government funding. The interviewees often had to be “fiercely stubborn,” some turning to private donations or crowdfunding, some changing their focus, and others exploring interdisciplinary collaborations.
The Bad
Changes to the CDC vaccine schedule for HBV will put children at risk
An article published this week in the Annals of Internal Medicine predicted the effect of the CDC changes to the childhood immunization schedule for the HBV vaccine. The authors concluded that “proposed policy changes for vaccination through shared decision making are projected to result in an 83% increase in childhood HBV infections, and between 50% and 70% of children entering adulthood annually would be susceptible to HBV infection. Policymakers should re-implement recommendations for universal birth-dose vaccination.” This week, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. claimed that “the hepatitis B vaccine has been used for many years since 1991, but we don’t know what the risk profile is for that product because there was no randomized placebo-controlled trial prior to its licensure.” However, studies like one reported in the New England Journal of Medicine clearly contradict his statement.
Raw milk increases risk of infection
Last year, RFK Jr. downed a shot of raw (unpasteurized) milk in the White House to celebrate publication of a Make America Healthy Again report. Now, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has put out a policy statement about the consumption of raw milk. AAP found that “substantial data suggest that pasteurized milk confers equivalent health benefits compared with unpasteurized milk, without the additional risk of infection.” Meanwhile, a multi-state outbreak of E. coli contamination in raw-milk cheese has put eight people in the hospital.
Trump orders a new NIH women’s health division and White House task force
The October 19 executive order, pushed by the First Lady, targets maternal health, mental health, and endometriosis. Everyone in biomedical research should support studying women’s health. In a post on X, however, Catharine Young—who worked on President Biden’s “cancer moonshot”—noted that NIH’s Office of Research on Women’s Health has existed for more than 25 years, and that Trump’s executive order revokes Biden’s 2023 women’s health research initiative. Moreover, Trump’s announcement comes with no new research funding. Young concludes “I am absolutely supportive of a spotlight on women’s health but not another rebrand.”
More bad news:
Kyle Kennedy, niece of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., passed away last month at the age of 42. She had suffered a severe spinal cord injury that led to long-term paralysis and medical issues. Following her injury, she became a prominent voice for disability rights. Our condolences go out to Secretary Kennedy and his family for their loss.
Federal workers are frustrated by a new process for annual performance reviews. Staff are now required to submit a 6,000-character self-assessment. Many employees, remembering similar requests by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), suspect that the new process will be used as an excuse to cut the pay of, or to fire, workers.
The Ugly
Former federal workers often cite politicization as reason for leaving
The Accountability and Reform Research Consortium asked more than 2,000 former federal employees why they left the federal government in 2025. The survey found that although some federal employees resigned “voluntarily,” many felt they had no alternative. Cuts to staff affected the most committed workers, and politicization was the reason most often cited for leaving. The job resignations resulted in a significant loss of expertise for the government. However, many former federal employees said they would consider returning to their job if conditions change.
Federal investigation into J1 visas of postdocs
The Department of Labor is investigating the use of J1 visas for postdoctoral researchers. Vice President JD Vance claimed that “they’re using these visas way too much. They’re using them to undercut the wages of American grad students and American researchers, and it simply has to stop.” Critics of the investigation counter that international postdocs play a crucial role in American science. Theresa Desrochers, a neuroscientist at Brown University, said that the investigation “contributes to an overall mood of ‘you’re not wanted here’.” Claiming that visas undercut American researchers’ wages, the administration is targeting Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Yale, Brown, Caltech, ASU, UC Davis, and Pitt. 27 UNIHTED has written previously about the global nature of scientific research.
More ugly news:
California and Washington officials asked the CDC to validate a rapid, high-volume test for measles, but after a two-month delay the request was denied, citing “other competing priorities.”
A federal judge ruled that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) violated the Privacy Act and bypassed cybersecurity practices when it provided the DOGE access to the private personnel data of millions of federal employees. DOGE was blocked from such records in June 2025 by a preliminary injunction, and this week the judge’s decision finalized the case against OPM. DOGE was closed in July and no longer exists. Relief is pending; plaintiffs want copies expunged.
Leadership Watch
Calley Means, a close aide to RFK Jr., quit his role as a senior adviser in the Trump administration. Means was reported to be frustrated by the lack of progress in advancing the MAHA movement priorities.
According to an article in Science magazine, NIH director Jay Bhattacharya’s choice to lead the National Institute of Mental Health, Vikaas Sohal, is no longer a candidate for the job. Instead, RFK Jr. overruled Bhattacharya and intends to offer the job to Shebani Sethi, who supports MAHA ideas like “metabolic psychiatry,” which includes special diets to treat mental illness.
The Acting Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), Brian Stone, and the Acting Chief of Staff, Rebecca Keiser, will be leaving NSF. In the last two years, NSF has lost more than a third of its staff.
Calls to Action
By November 3: Proposed rule on Racial Nondiscrimination in Private Schools, 2026-18127 (91 FR 56811), allows removal of tax exempt status from any private school that continues to support DEI activities.
By November 16: Tell the Office of Personnel Management not to shrink your health plan choices, docket OPM-2026-0661, by opposing the proposal to optimize FEHB offerings for the 8.3 million federal employees, retirees, and family members who rely on it.
Impeach Vought campaign has over 4,400 signatures! Add your name to the movement! www.impeachvought.com/
Support 27 UNIHTED. Former NIHers and HHS staff need your support. Take action and volunteer: https://www.27unihted.org/takeaction
Upcoming Events
27 UNIHTED / NIH community events
Weekly NIH Vigil every Saturday at 10:00 am ET.
Weekly peer empowerment call every Thursday at 6:00 pm ET.
Networking event with the FDA Alumni Association at U.S. Pharmacopeia on November 12 at 6:30 pm–8:00 pm ET. More details to come.
Wellness Weekly
Our somewhat serious community recommendations for self-care are:
Try watercolor or pencil sketching.
Phone a friend.
Write and mail a postcard to a far-away friend.
Bake cookies.
Try a https://labx.org/ activity.
In solidarity,
27 UNIHTED and NIH Vigils